Wedge Antilles, 'Col Takbright' and Deepfakes

One of the more glaring errors in A New Hope was pilot Wedge being played by two different actors; Colin Higgins in the briefing scene, and Denis Lawson everywhere else, including the two sequels Empire & Jedi. It took until 2017 for this to be ‘corrected’, by simply saying that Colin Higgins was playing a different character, Col Takbright, who has an entire short story devoted to him in the anthology book “From A Certain Point Of View”.

To me, this is nothing more than a cop-out, as every other source prior attributes Higgins’ one line to Wedge. But how else could this be fixed?

Enter “Deepfakes”. High tech video editing using deep-learning algorithms to change people faces, usually to change someone’s facial appearance from one person to another, although it can also be used to change what someone is saying with use of different audio e.g an impersonator.

Now, the question isn’t “Can we change Higgins to look like Lawson in the briefing scene”. The answer to that is Yes. The question is, with the tools that are available to fans, can it be done in high quality and look professional? And should we do it? I feel like those are the more interesting questions.

I can no longer call myself a Star Wars fan. I’m sick of the same played-out aesthetics/tropes being remixed/regurgitated time-&-time again; I’m sick of the deteriorating characterization/worldbuilding which have been in play since 1983; I’m sick of the toxic fanboys from all ideological camps; I’m sick of the capitalist pigs who refuse to allow this IP into the public domain where it rightly belongs. So while I may still admire the first two films for their technical achievements and characters, I’m no longer capable of enjoying Star Wars in any capacity due to the reasons delineated above.

I’d also like to see this. Then again, I’d also like to see any experimentation with Star Wars. Match Harrison Ford in ANH with the actor from Solo, match Hayden in AOTC with footage of a young Sebastian Shaw, match Yoda in TLJ with CGI prequel Yoda, match TLJ flashback/projection Luke with 1994 behind-the-scenes-of-Batman-TAS Mark Hamill, etc., etc…

pushes up nerd glasses
Actually, according to the CRC dating system in the new Scum and Villainy book that recently came out, A New Hope takes place in the year 7977 CRC, and TFA/TLJ in 8011 CRC, which would match up with our own year of 2011. If Kylo Ren turned, at the earliest, six years before TFA, since the novel Bloodline takes place then and doesn’t suggest that Ben had turned yet, that would match up to around the year 2005. So really Flashback Luke should look more like 2005 Mark Hamill rather than 1994 Mark Hamill.